I have a friend who has whole Faerie Tales inside of her. She dreamt a whole book the other day, and still was not sure it was a sign from God. She longs to be taken seriously, and isn’t sure that magic and dragons are going to give her the voice to call out truth. I love her non-fiction, but I can tell through the posts she leaves on the screen that her eyes light up and her heart thumps faster every time the story comes to her. I want to take her face in my hands and remind her that  of all the non-fiction essays C.S. Lewis wrote about God, it is Aslan and Narnia that is most often refered to. Our souls are attracted to the truth, even if it is told through wizards and other worlds.

And I have a friend who made the craziest dishes for the ladies brunch. The vast majority of the ladies at the brunch were Daniel fasting. She whipped up an apple berry crumble and a sweet potatoe hash that was so good I thought there was going to be a Baptist lady fist fight over who got to lick the pan. When asked for the recipe she shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal. It was just something she threw together. She wanted to tell us how she could make it better, how she would substitute this or puree that. We couldn’t hear her over the this is sooooo goood groaning that was going on. She doesn’t always see it, but this lady has a gift.

I had the incredible experience of being photographed by a woman who has the gift of seeing. She really sees me. She really sees the beauty of all women. She believes in the beauty of a woman’s body and she can’t stop see it. In a rose waiting to open her face to her maker, she sees in the curves of an ancient tree, the curves of the bodies of the baristas she loves. She keeps thanking me for trusting her, I keep looking at the photos, knowing that this is what my soul looks like. What do you mean thank me? She has a gift, and she gave it to me.

I’m surrounded by people who have gifts, and they keep telling me they are no big deal. If you can take fruits, vegetables, and ground nuts and turn them into a delicious meal, that is a big deal. If you can craft stories from dust without ever living them that is a big deal. If you can take 20 small children to a museum or a zoo and you remember to take them to the bathroom often enough so that no one had an accident, that isn’t just a Thursday. That is such a big deal I want to drop the f bomb on my Jesus blog. If you can apply make up to faces in a way that makes a tired mom feel beautiful, if you drive a bus without running anyone over (a feat I am sure I am not capable of), what you do is a really big deal!

My friend Marvia tweets in a way that makes the internet better, and my friend Leanne makes beautiful things out of sheets people discard. My friend Jamie can find poetry in any book you hand her. My mom can make a birthday cake that will make you feel infinitely loved, and my mother-in-law can make anyone on earth feel welcome in her home. My daughters can charm the pants off of anyone we have ever met on the train. My friend Megan got a kid who hasn’t passed a class in two years, earn a solid B. THESE ARE BIG DEALS! What the Lord has gifted you with is a big, big deal.

I don’t think God wants us to say that what He has gifted us is no big thing. I think He wants us to be proud of it, I think He wants us to share it as proudly as my lovely girls when they run to me with the picture they made while I was in big church. They tell me they made it for me. they demand I hang it on the fridge.

Today we will practice. What do you do that is a big deal? What are you so good at, God should hang it on His fridge?